London looks to wow world with opening ceremonies
Fireworks explode over Olympic Stadium during a rehearsal for today’s opening ceremonies for the 2012 Summer Olympics, where London hopes to wow the world.
London looks to wow world with opening ceremonies
Associated Press
London
London, blow our minds.
The world city that needs no introduction but could do with an Olympic-sized pick-me-up in the midst of economic recession launches the 2012 Summer Games with a spectacular opening ceremony today that faces a unique challenge: to be as memorable as Beijing’s planet-wowing, money-no-object extravaganza of 2008.
The British capital will set itself apart, as it has so often down the centuries, by being different. Beijing’s curtain raiser featured 2,008 pounding drummers and a cauldron-lighter who seemed to float in the air of the Bird’s Nest stadium. London will have 70 sheep, 12 horses, 10 chickens and nine geese — recruited by Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle along with a cast and crew of 10,000 to present a quirky, humorous and vibrant vision of quintessential Britain, its history and future.
London is not the same as it was when the games were awarded seven years ago. Its serenity and confidence were shaken by riots last year and by terror bombings on the transport network that killed 56 people the day after the International Olympic Committee picked London over Paris in 2005. In London, the Olympic Games have come to a sprawling, historic metropolis that lives and breathes sports, with a population more global and diverse than perhaps any other, but which still feels it needs the Olympic spotlight to secure its future as one of the world’s great cities.
In depicting Britain, warts and all, Boyle has drawn from William Shakespeare, British pop culture, literature and music, and other sources of inspiration that will speak not just to Anglophiles but to people across the globe. One segment involves actor Daniel Craig’s James Bond, and former Beatle Paul McCartney will lead a sing-along.
Boyle’s “Isles of Wonder” show will celebrate the green and pleasant land of meadows, farms, cottages, village cricket matches and bird song, but also dwell on Britain’s darker industrial past. That’s not a surprise from a movie director who depicted Scottish heroin addicts in “Trainspotting” and Indian poor in “Slumdog Millionaire.”
As well as thousands of athletes and performers, some 60,000 spectators will pack the Olympic Stadium. Political leaders from around the world, U.S. first lady Michelle Obama and her daughters, and a sprinkling of European and celebrity royalty will also attend.
According to the Sunday Times, one section will feature characters from children’s fiction classics including “Alice in Wonderland” and “Peter Pan” — and a showdown between Lord Voldemort, the villain of J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” books, and a horde of flying magical nannies based on Mary Poppins.
“I would have thought the difficulty is how you cram in all that is great about our country,” British Prime Minister David Cameron said Thursday. “Whether it is sport, art, literature, history, contribution to world events, there are so many things to celebrate about our country that packing all that in to these hours must be a pretty tough task. But I am confident they have done a good job.”